CATALYST

story institute | content festival

2019 Longform Drama Selections

88

How one forsaken Queens precinct handled crime, policing, and politics in 1980’s New York. Detective Sica, who’s overzealous and looking to be a hero, is put under intense departmental pressure to solve a cop-killer case. When Detective Sica shoots and kills an innocent black teen, he must decide what’s more important, his freedom or self-preservation. Sica’s story dovetails with Brennan, an over-worked and anonymous assistant district attorney with mayoral aspirations. Brennan becomes a media darling after his younger brother Eddie, a rookie cop, is murdered. Brennan must decide whether or not to use his newfound political capital to jump his boss and run for mayor.

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Dirt

Set on a Paiute Native American reservation, a girl named Nina struggles to find her missing sister, forced to navigate jurisdictional issues, corruption, and even resistance within her own family.

Inpatient

An unlikely group of strangers in a NYC psych ward must learn how to cope without losing their minds – at least no more than the world already thinks they have.

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Promoter in Paradise

Tuti, a recent college grad with big dreams is struggling to catch a break in the dog-eat-dog job market – especially with the added pressure of a mother looking to see her married. Upon stumbling into the aftermath of a major party, Tuti accidentally lands a role with Bali’s premier event manager, Tina. Tuti must not only survive the next 48 hours but also pull off the party of the year to keep her dream alive.

Stormchaser

All Bonnie Blue ever wanted was to chase tornadoes with her Dad. But dreams die with time. Now, up against a recession, she's become a different kind of storm chaser - hawking storm-doors "door-to-door" around Shamrock, USA, for her charismatic boss, Flip Smyth. As she grasps that Flip's doctrine of "Flip the Switch!" is just a way to exploit customers, a different kind of switch flips inside Bonnie - unleashing an inner and outer storm of violence.

Work/Friends

Sam is a sharp but indecisive millennial, torn between what a professional should be and what she is. When Sam is promoted ahead of her older and more experienced best friend Angie, unspoken tensions about class, age and sex erupt, jeopardizing the personal and professional relationships of everyone in the office.

The Coyote Way

This sci-fi docu-narrative follows Charlie, who is forced to choose between joining a Native street gang or going on an epic pilgrimage. Featuring an entirely Native American cast, the film was shot in the Minneapolis neighborhoods of Phillips and Little Earth.

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Home Turf

Home Turf is an unlikely sisterhood that forms in the beige-toned half-basement of a foster home for “problem” teenage girls in the year 2000. Soon after arriving from Africa, Sahara, a mixed-race 15-year-old, is driven by CPS to a foster home in the suburbs. At the house, run by “Auntie,” she finds four teenage girls who object to her presence and make her life miserable. But little by little Sahara makes friends with the girls, turning enemies into allies against the ostracism of those around them.

The System

Zero Point

Consumed by the strange and abrupt death of her son, Dr. Alex Embry investigates a mysterious disease that she alone believes will bring about human colony collapse starting with the youngest generation first.

Currency

Currency takes place in a small town one week after all banking, credit, and electronic monetary records disappear. People only have the food in their homes, the money in their pockets, and fading faith that their bank accounts will come back. A Cuban immigrant father and his daughter run the town's gas station and realize that they have the two things everyone needs as the country is plunged into crisis: food and gasoline. But the family finds itself deeply divided about what to do with its newfound "wealth."

Immortal

No Place To Fall

Clinging to his unsuccessful music career, a soon-to-be-father is offered a recording gig with a beautiful young up-and-comer, but soon finds that the demands of the music and needs of his growing family are impossible to balance without sacrificing part of himself.